Hardware : A600GS

Introduction

Amigakit a UK long-established Amiga store are developing their own custom emulation system, similar to the A500 Mini but designed to be a much more complete and advance system. The system is powered by Orange Pi Zero 3, which is another Arm system very similar to Raspberry Pi boards. The system does have custom hardware by Rabbit Hole Computers, which looks like its connects to the GPIO Pins that adds an extra two USB ports at the back and Two D9 pin ports at the front for classic Amiga mouses and joysticks. The board feature a easter egg name "good stuff" a Amiga tradition to take a name from a B52s Song. A600GS, something all classic Amiga had. The GS part of the name can however both mean Good Stuff and Gaming System according to AmigaKit.

A600GS

Specs

Orange Pi Zero 3
- CPU - All Winner H618 Quad-Core Cortex-A53 ARM - 1.5Ghz
- GPU - Arm Mali-G31 MP2 GPU
- LPDDR4 - 4Gb Ram
- MicroSD Card
- 26 Pin Header
- Ethernet / Wifi 5 / Blu Tooth 5
64Gb Storage (MicroSD Card)
2x 9 Pin D-Sub connection for Classic 9 Pin Amiga Joysticks/mouse
3.5mm Audio Port
3 x USB 2.0 ports
Micro HDMI Port
USB-C ( For Power )

In the Box

A600GS Computer
USB A600GS GamePad
HDMI Cable
USB-C Power Cable
Quick Start Guide
Released : 2024
£134.99

This system features a Allwinner H618 Quad-Core Cortex-A53 CPU running at 1.5Ghz, for context this is slightly faster than Pi3 and A500Mini system, but not as fast as Pi4 boards. Below is the SysInfo benchmark for the system.

Software

OS - Amibench V46 (Aros / Custom )
PPaint 7.4
OctaMED v8
Final Writer v7
Directory Opus 4 GPL
Emulation Powered by Amiberry

Thunderhell
Super SkidMarks
Virtual Grand Prix
Utilities: EaglePlayer, HippoPlayer, Dock,
Clock, Calendar

The system will allow internet access and have updates provided from AmiSphere an online service ran by Amigakit. The system doesn't have an official deal with Clonato/Amiga inc and so will be powered by a modified Aros OS named AmiBench v46. It will come with some well known Amiga software by A-EON, PPaint, OctaMED, Final Writer and Directory Opus4 by GP Software. Below is video of the offical intro for the A600GS and a Presentation at Amiwest 2023 by Matthew Leaman all about the aims and goals of the project.

Unlike the A500 mini the system doesn't official support WHDload, but uses JST, which is basically a very similar program as WHDload, like WHDload it allows for many older Amiga games that where designed only to be run from floppy disk run on a hard drive. JST converts the game files to run on the A600GS hard drive. It also allows and supports many WHDload Slave files. There is still old website that have JST files, http://jffabre.free.fr/amiga/patches.html But most WHDload files should work, here are the site for them files.

WHDLoad Website

https://www.whdownload.com/ - Loads of Amiga games and goodies ready to go.

http://whdload.de/ - Official WHDLoad website

https://mega.nz/folder/gdozjZxL#uI5SheetsAd-NYKMeRjf2A - Retroplays WHDload

https://archive.org/details/Amiga_WHD_Games - Achive.org collection

http://www.whdownload.com/demos.php - WHDLoad Amiga Demoscene

https://archive.org/details/super-skidmarks-v-2.2-cd - WHDload 2Gb A500 mini collection

Hacks / Mods / Distros for the A600GS

As the system is only a Orange Pi 3 Zero, you could always open up the case and replace the Sd Card with a different one with a OS image installed that support the Orange board system, the system already supports a number of Linux OS's, Android and even Windows system. Link below for list of them.

http://www.orangepi.org/html/hardWare/computerAndMicrocontrollers/service-and-support/Orange-Pi-Zero-3.html